Joseph Cao, deliberate congressman
The Washington Post Sunday Magazine featured an article on first term Republican Congressman Joseph Cao a couple of weeks ago Joseph Cao, the unlikely congressman from New Orleans. Cao is the first Vietnamese American elected to congress and represents Louisiana's 2nd congressional district (a section of the city of New Orleans). This post is aimed, as you might imagine, not at Washington Post readers from the dc area who would have read this at the time, but people from other parts. The article took the form of a positive human-interest story, but then I think it would hard to run an expose type story on this guy. There were two anecdotes from the article I especially liked. His less then completely successful stint as a divorce lawyer, he kept talking couples into staying together. And his Hari Kari quote directed against BP. I'll take that over Joe Barton's unholy sucking up to big money any day. While all this is in the article, I'll throw in a brief reiteration of salient points from his biography here. Joseph Cao is from Vietnam, born in Saigon 13 March 1967. He was sent to the U S as a child to live with relatives. He was separated from his sister, in the process, sent to live with different relatives. He graduated from Baylor as a physics major. Then there was a period as a Jesuit seminarian and work as a novice in Mexico. The Jesuits it seems sent him to graduate school at Fordham as a philosophy major. Somewhere along the line he had enough of an epiphany to propel him to law school at Loyola and then settle in New Orleans as an immigration lawyer with a focus on Louisiana's Vietnamese community and some time on the board of Boat People SOS (bpsos.org). He strikes me as a true catholic, and an actual compassionate conservative mostly a chimera elsewhere. Overall, a smart and determined man.
For all that he is a republican in a very democratic city. One that the democrats are loathe to let go of. Even for a good man November's election, prospects a less than likely return. Cao got elected on the back of reaction to William "cold-cash" Jefferson's malfeasance problems. He won that election mostly due the the Democratic party and community's inability to come to terms with Jefferson and gracefully position another candidate to replace him. When Jefferson didn't win, and shortly before he was sentenced to 13 years in jail, portions of the community ran a recall effort against Cao which went nowhere. A year on and he is well down in the polls now, against a popular young and likable opponent. Who has picked up the Presidents endorsement - in the form of TV ad Obama Cuts First General Election Ad For Cao Opponent Cedric Richmond | TPMDC. This last seems especially sad, and unfortunate, given that just a year ago President Obama invited Rep. Cao and his family to the White House to watch the New Orleans Saints in the Superbowl. The Democrats now desperately need every last possible seat in congress and reliable votes on every critical roll call. So business is business and the tap goes to Cedric Richmond.
Joseph Cao will land on his feet I'm sure, There is no particular joy in being a junior congressman unless you have your home ducks in a row. Political life probably has not seen the last of him in any regard. I would like to see him come out to the University of Maryland for a talk on his experiences over the past few years.  Route one and Cave Neck rd., Milton Delaware
The Libraries at UMCP used to sponsor a speaker series like that. I imagine they still do. There are a dozen or more speaker series on campus if not. It's something I'd like to see happen. It is a sign of the times, perhaps, but in today's political climate, warming and getting warmer. That unlike more name and face recognizable political figures - Joseph Anh Cao just doesn't bring the necessary level of crazy to the game.
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